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Special Collections Duplication Services

About

The Special Collections Library generates copies of materials to facilitate research and for use/reproduction in scholarly and other products. Duplication may also serve preservation purposes where appropriate.

While the University of Michigan owns the objects in our collections, we do not own copyright to these materials (except where it has been explicitly transferred to the University).

Current Duplication Policies

Our staff can provide each registered user with up to 100 numbered pages or 2 archival folders from our materials per calendar month (exceptions negotiable). We reserve the right to impose total limits on user duplication requests if fulfillment encroaches on effective and equitable service to other users. Delivery of straight-forward requests for reference-quality images typically takes about two weeks from the date of request submission. Requests for publication-quality images or other complicated requests require more than two weeks for fulfillment, and our staff will be able to update you on the status of such requests once processing has begun.

Requests for any type of duplication are evaluated by staff and approved based on material format, physical condition and any applicable restrictions.

Use, Copyright, and Attribution

The University of Michigan Library is committed to supporting research, teaching, scholarship, publication, and artistic production involving use of the Library's collections. Toward this end, the Library provides copies of material to facilitate research or to be used/reproduced in scholarly and other products. There is no fee for this use. However, we do ask that you notify us of these uses when they involve the publication or distribution of reproductions of material in print or digital form.

Upon receiving this notification, we, as owners of the physical item, can provide you with a letter acknowledging this use. This helps us understand and facilitate the work our collections support, and gives us the opportunity to provide you with the best citation for the material you are using. Complete citations will vary in content and format according to the material being used, but all captions, citations, etc. should include the credit line/attribution“University of Michigan Library (Special Collections Library).”

Our letter of acknowledgement does not convey any copyright permission. It is the sole responsibility of the author, editor, web editor, publisher, etc. to investigate the copyright status of any given work and to seek and obtain permission where needed. Copyright law protects unpublished as well as published materials. If the content in question is under copyright, permission to publish must be sought from the owners of the rights, typically the creator or the heirs to his or her estate, unless the intended use of the material is protected by the fair use provision of the copyright law of the United States (title 17, United States Code). For more information about fair use and copyright law, see the “NOTICE WARNING” below and the University of Michigan Library Copyright Statement.

NOTICE WARNING CONCERNING COPYRIGHT RESTRICTIONS: The copyright law of the United States (title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specific conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be “used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research.” If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of “fair use,” that user may be liable for copyright infringement. This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order if, in its judgment, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of copyright law.

Duplication Fees

Special Collections is currently offering duplication service free of charge. This applies only to requests that can be completed "in-house."

Any request that, based on the condition of the materials and the best judgment of our staff, would require external handling would be subject to the fees charged by those departments who handle such requests. Patrons will be notified of estimates for these costs – typically between $25 and $50 per image - before digitization work is done and fees charged.

How to Request Duplication

Register with the Special Collections Library

You must be a registered user to request duplication of material held by the Special Collections Library. You can find instructions for registration and creating your Special Collections Request Account on our website.

1. If you have identified an online record for the material that you are seeking, click on the “request this” button to navigate to a reading room request form. Do not submit this form.
2. On this form there is a link that says “Switch to Duplication Request.” Follow this link to navigate to a new duplication request.
3. Complete the duplication request form with the requisite details and click "Submit."

How to Request Duplication of Archival or Uncataloged Material

For materials described by an online finding aid or not indexed/describedin Mirlyn or the list of Subject Vertical Files:
1. Log in to your account.
2. In the menu on the left of the page, click on "Request Duplication" (under “Duplication”).
3. Once in the “New Duplication Request” form, enter the details of your request. Please provide as much detail as possible.
4. If you are requesting material from multiple folders in an archive, please submit a separate duplication request for each folder.

Access to Delivered Items

When we have completed your duplication request, you will receive an email notification. In most cases, you will be able to download delivered files from your account by clicking on the "Delivered Items" link under "Duplication." In the event of a single request resulting in multiple files to be delivered, the email notification will contain a link to a different page where you will be able to download these files.

Alternatives to Special Collections Duplication Services

Patron-captured images

Users consulting materials in the reading room can capture their own images. Our policies and procedures regarding cameras and scanners in the reading room are described in our registration terms and conditions.

If the digital version of an item would be eligible for inclusion in the HathiTrust Digital Library via the Michigan Digitization Project, that item would be eligible for “Request for Digitization.” Generally, printed works published prior to 1923 are eligible for these requests, though all requests also must be approved by the appropriate Special Collections curator. For more information or to submit such a request, please see the DLPS website.